Chapter 5.

The noisy crowd cheered on as they witnessed the kudan-fight before their eyes. The sky was filled with explosions and clashes of fire and water, the elements of both Syaoran's and Shougo'skudan.

Fai and Kurogane were standing safely somewhere near the palace, looking up as they looked at the two fought.
"Syaoran is really cool!", Fai praised with a smile, "and he's not just a handsome kid."
Kurogane looked at him. "He also seemed to know that you're not just a playful person".
"Yes, plus he's more than just someone who loves archaeology." The wizard said. "And our Nazaiya-chan... Well, she's not scared of facing a fight head-on either."

The two then turned their attention towards the said female. But just then, right before their eyes, Nazaiya who was standing on a higher place, fell backwards and lost her consciousness. And at that time, Shougo let out a huge wave of water with his kudan, occupying the palace with some sort of tsunami. Like an instinct, Kurogane jumped to take cover at a higher ground while Fai flew to save Nazaiya, grabbing and bringing her along to the ninja.

As Fai landed, he quickly looked at her in his arms, examining her face. To his surprise, a warm, red liquid was dripping down one of her nostrils.
"Blood…" Fai muttered.

Just as they all got back to the hotel, Syaoran ran as fast as he could to Sakura's room. He was more than excited, knowing that now he had retrieved the feather that was actually in Masayoshi's kudan all along.

Sorata and Arashi smiled seeing the happy Syaoran, but their expression changed when they saw Kurogane carrying a weak Nazaiya along. Her eyes were open now, but they were only half-lidded.

"What happened?!" Sorata asked worriedly.
"We aren't sure either," Fai answered, "but we'll just let her rest for now."
The couple then nodded in agreement.

As Kurogane was walking through the hallway, Nazaiya lifted her head, signaling the ninja to put her down.
"I'm fine now. I want to see the princess as well." She said, though her voice was unconvincing.
"Fine." Kurogane put her down with a frown. "But don't push yourself."
"No, she'll have to rest now." Arashi suddenly came from behind them, and looked at Nazaiya. "Her room is just by the end of the hallway, so I'll take her there."
Though she was reluctant, Nazaiya went to her room with a sigh.

Stepping in her room, Nazaiya quickly sat down by the wall and leaned against it, closing her eyes in exhaustion. Arashi held out a glass of water for her, and she took it silently.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?" Arashi asked.
Nazaiya looked down at her glass. "I don't know... I felt my head spinning all of a sudden, so I had to summon my kudan back in. It was exhausting and overwhelming, too."

Arashi looked at Nazaiya for a moment, contemplating on whether she should tell or not.

"Your powers..." Arashi hesitated, "…had awakened when you handed over your crystal. As you get around darkness or anything with a sense of evil, something inside you would absorb that dark aura. Thus, your powers would gradually grow, as much as the blackness seeps in through you."

"...Powers? Awakened?" Nazaiya blinked in confusion. "What do you mean? I do have magic in the first place, but... what kind of powers are we talking about?"
"I only know this much, but yes. The amount of magic you have right now, is definitely different from this power that had just awakened. The power is called Fortz Magic, and it is only bestowed upon those who had artificial hearts..."

A silence passed by.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think I understand what you're talking about, Arashi-san." Nazaiya replied with a frown, not quite making sense of what's happening.

Arashi gave her a smile. "It's alright. In due time, you will find out the truth. The reason for your journey... will bring you to your answer. However, please be careful on your journey, and please don't strain your powers too much."

Taking it as an advice of a worried sister-like figure, Nazaiya nodded with a smile and thanked Arashi. Arashi then excused herself, and went out of the room. As she paced through the hallways, she cast her eyes down worriedly. "May your fate not be bad as I dreamed it to be..."

As silent crept up upon her, Nazaiya stood up and went to the window. She pushed open the curtains widely, and was happy to know that it was raining. She loves the rain, for whole lot of reasons. Right outside, she saw a figure standing in the rain. She looked closely, and was surprised to know who it was.

"Syaoran…?" she muttered.

There were three kudans protecting the said boy from the rain. And suddenly, they became four. Nazaiya's kudan had joined them, without having to be ordered.

Suddenly, there was a faint knock on the door, to her surprise.
"Come in." she said simply, her eyes still glued at the boy.

The door was opened, and came in tall, friendly figure. Nazaiya turned her head to look at the person, and she smiled.
"What's wrong, Fai?" she asked.
"Just checking up on you. Why are you not resting?" Fai asked with a smile, approaching the window. His voice is gentle and soothing, and it made her feel... safe, for some reason.

"I just wanted to look at the rain. But Syaoran's out there…" she pointed out.
"I know." He said. "Sakura didn't remember him and asked 'who are you?', so…"
"I see... He's crying, right?"
"Seems like it. But crying is a way to show that you're strong as well."

Nazaiya touched the window glass in front of her, feeling the slight cold on it. "Forgotten by the one you love most... Hurts so much, I guess."
Fai stared at her, before smiling again. "Have you ever felt that kind of pain, Nazaiya-chan?"

She turned her eyes away from the window and looked up to the blond, his beautiful blue eyes boring into her pink orbs. It was mesmerizing, and it felt like she could drown in the ocean of his eyes. They were unreadable, mixed with kindness, and something she wasn't sure of. But the gentleness in his eyes; it made her heart skipped a beat, making her at a loss of words.

"Nazaiya-chan?" his voice broke the somewhat long silence between them, and she was brought back to reality.

She decided not to answer and instead, gave him a rather genuine smile. She glanced out of the window for a bit to get her thoughts in order, before looking back up at him.

"Thank you Fai-san," She smiled, her eyes shone with appreciation towards the wizard. "For saving me when I was losing consciousness earlier."
"And thank you, too Nazaiya-chan. You saved me too when I was falling, so we're even now." Fai spoke, before walking towards the door.

"Have a good rest, Nazaiya-chan." He said as he opened the door.
"Oh, Fai, there's something I wanted to ask." She stopped him.
"Hm?"
"When you held my hand earlier… Why was your hand so cold?" she tilted her head in confusion.
The wizard chuckled. "It's not that my hand was cold, but your hand was very, very warm. Good night, Nazaiya-chan."

With a smile, Fai closed the door.

Just as he was in the hallway, Fai looked down, his eyes clouded with misery.
"Do you not know, or do you pretend to not know, Nazaiya-chan?" he spoke in a low voice, almost a whisper. "Your powers are eating you up inside…"

The next day, the group was ready to leave for another world. Nazaiya was late that day as well, thus she quickly got ready and joined the group outside.

For the first time, she got to see the princess herself. In her eyes, the princess' eyes were almost empty, like a doll. She looked rather weak, but she's really pretty.

"Ah, Nazaiya-chan is here!" Fai exclaimed. "Sakura-chan, this is the girl I talked about last night."
Nazaiya bowed slightly. "Sakura-san, I'm Nazaiya."
"Oh, hello." Sakura simply answered, her voice soft and weak.

When everyone was ready, Mokona began to fly in the air. Its wings grew as it opened its mouth, ready to transport to another place.

"Thank you." Syaoran smiled.
"Take care and good luck!" Sorata waved them, alongside Arashi.

A wave of wind surrounded them, and they were vanishing slowly into thin air. Before long, they were completely gone, and were on their way to another dimension.

To be continued…